Tuesday, December 2, 2008

HOW TO REMOVE STAINS

To remove coffee or tea stains from cups, put some salt on a piece of orange or lemon rind and rub the marks. Then wash the usual way.

11 comments:

Heather Masterton said...

I have had GREAT results with Efferdent. Leave overnight - (sometimes you can see the stain floating a little bit above its previous spot on the cup). The solution is reusable - when I had a large inventory, I always kept a small square plastic wastebasket handy with a few cups of the solution around. Layered the cups and saucers in there with old T-shirts bits between to cushion. No bleaching, the antique beige color stays in place, just the dark spots go.
Of course, Oxyclean is the whitener of champions, fast and pretty safe.

dragonrider said...

Baking soda does a fine job, too.
Sara

ss said...

I always use baking soda to remove stains from bakeware, fine china, corning ware, and plastic ware and my original Kool-Aide container. I have used it on my English Bone china since 1960 with no damage. I have even removed the age related yellowing from a windshied washer water bottle from our antique car. Made it look like new! Less messy and easier cleaning than the lemon and salt.

Anonymous said...

I agree! Baking soda does the trick nicely. I use it for stains in my coffee cups and even stains on my countertop. Just wet a rag, dab it in the soda and rub. It is non-abrasive and something that most of us have handy. Marie

Anonymous said...

A little silver polish--the pink paste type--removes coffee and tea stains better than anything else I've tried. I put a dab on a damp sponge, cloth, or paper towel and swipe the inside of a wet cup. Gentle and very effective.

Anonymous said...

Denture cleaner tablets work like a charm! No scrubbing, no rubbing, just soak for an hour or so on the worst stains. Works well also on vases, etc. that have become discolored from use.

Anonymous said...

The Mr Clean magic eraser also removed tea and coffee stains from cups easily.

Anonymous said...

My stain remover of choice for any kind of china/porcelain is a mix of Baking Soda and Cream of Tarter. Just add a little of both to the piece with a tiny bit of water. It foams, gets cold, and rubs around the cup safely with bare skin. So far I've never had it fail.

Anonymous said...

A nice soak in Oxi-Clean works great, too. I did a whole bunch of stained coffee cups and a couple of plates in my sink overnight and they were nice and bright the next day. So was my white sink :-)

Anonymous said...

Oxyclean also works miracles for cleaning Tupperware! Takes away stains and also completely removes the tacky or sticky feel that older pieces often have!

Anonymous said...

I used to rely on baking soda, didn't take much scrubbing. My 89-year-old Mother-in-law said it wasted too much time, so she showed me a trick where I don't have to scrub at all! Hot water and a splash of bleach! Not only can I clean cups, I can clean the spout on a teapot by just filling it up with water. The darker the stain, the longer it takes, but you can see it start immediately. I used bleach and water to clean blackberry stains from a porcelain pot last night- just wait and give a hot water rinse! No muss, no fuss! The cheap stuff works just as well as the pricey stuff!